Not Out But In



How many times do we get to hear this? 'We thought you were going the other way!' It's often the simple things that are the most dangerous. Like the optimists like to point out that it's not the fall that kills you only the hitting the ground part.

So our friend with the big gun should realise that aircaft not going to Malta but coming from are not the sight you want to see.

The gates leading into Heaven and into Hell must use an endless maze of que control bollards just for people who make this type of simple mistake.

Heaven forbid you make the same mistake twice and up standing in the wrong line.

Bow Ties & Beards

Now that's the way to go to war. It takes a man to tie the knot and trim the beard and resolve difficult situations with simple decisions such as shoot at the first one you see. Other, lesser fellows can only stand around and  marvel. Some things are only simple and make sense when you see them for the first time.

Of course almost anybody these days can have a big ship under them and an entourage of slack jawed lackies.

But what of the eloquence?

Just Where Are They?

How often does this question get asked? Where are they? Just what are they doing? Where's the help? Always the same complaint. Why isn't someone looking after my concerns? My problems? According to Jackboot Issues Boy the Luftwaffe seems to be run by bad guy descendants of the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Why don't you help yourself fella?

Our jackbooted friend appears not to be interested in what he could be doing. He has plenty of time to run and leap and talk -  but what has he done to help? Shaking your fists and getting cantankerous may be one way of showing how you feel. The other and more productive way is do something positive about it. Start now and get on with it!

Momentum be Damned!

Who needs acceleration when you have momentum? Clearly having neither is not a good idea or a viable strategy. The ship of three funnels bereft of good ideas decides to discover how to meet a spectacular end without even trying.

Why do amidships and explosions always seem to go together? There appears to be a strange attraction between the two. As explosions amidships go this one is  beautifully staggering with billowing smoke clouds and debris splashing the water some distance from the doomed ship.

It appears that some things are inevitable.

It Will All End in Tears

There are some situations that will no doubt only end in tears.You don't need to take a close look or understand the fundamental laws of understated tragedy to get the full impact of what happens next. Any lack of clairvoyance on the part of the  viewer will soon be made up in the subsequent panel. So a special knowledge of the future is not required to see that air power is well on its way to beating  sea power.

What a  pity about those magnificent funnels.

Terrifying but Fun.

Direction and orientation are  curious things at best. All very good if up or down is of some importance or of gravitational concern. Yet in the greater scheme of things they may be of little consequence. However try telling that to some twenty something pilot as he hurtles earthward  with a large propeller effectively pulling him towards the ground. Then it all becomes fun.Terrifying but fun. The margin for error would also be frightfully small. One wrong move and it would be over for everybody. At that point up or down doesn't matter.

Oh Those Savage Doctors

Is this one of those shirt on or shirt off moments? Doctor Deserthead seems to be only feigning interest in the paper in front him just so he can pay special attention to our friend. So what does FAA actually stand for?
Also what happened to all the other chaps who were there 2 hours ago? Did they all get to go home and sit out the rest of the war?

Again so many  questions. There are never enough answers.

Pitifully Inadequate

Where to start? Some would say it's better not to start at all. It is bit harsh to question a  man about the efficiency of his rear gun.

Really?

It's bad enough to have to travel backwards with your head sticking out of a small hole in the back of the airplane without some idiot trying to kill you with unreasonably large bullets. Then to be called desperate, why not gallant?

Oh well them's the breaks.

Hitting the Waves.

You don't often get to see one of these flying around. It's pretty special to see a Dornier Do 18 trundling just above the water.

Of course we all know what happens next.

However exchange the Dornier for a Sunderland and a cheery crew we all know who would be hitting the waves next.
I'm pretty sure I have the alternative universe version of this somewhere deep in my collection. All l have to do is dig it out.

Built Pretty Solid

There comes a time when a man has to admit that there other things to life than wearing the crisp white and mucking around with your chums. That admission is monumental. To realise that there is something else that is built pretty solid can take your breath away. This is more than envy. More than self-realisation. This is beyond an epiphany. Beyond the far shore. It is close to the heart.So it is time to link arms, look dead ahead and face the future with certainty and get ready for action.

Crisp White and Waiting

This is how life should be! Plenty of opportunities to laze around in crisp whites waiting for the officer's mess to open, where the other chaps are waiting to have ding doing time. Surely there could be no better place? All that fun below decks and above and on base a fellow has to relax.

 

Yet this is early on. Time and events will no doubt move fast. Faster than you might expect.

 

So keep the back straight, shave the chin and comb that hair. There's much ado with your Atlantic cousins.

Fear Not...

Normal transmission will be resuming soon. So remember don't fly straight for too long. Keep an eye out and beware the Hun in the sun. Keep a stiff upper lip and hold on until help arrives.

Cover of the Week War Picture Library 131 Line of Fire

Sometimes the situation is bad. Real bad. The captain is dead. The support weapons are no longer manned. There's no other option but to wave the men on. Despite the shell fire and the enemy intent on plowing the fields with machine gun fire. At some point someone has to yell 'enough'.  The cover of War Picture Library 131 Line of File sadly lives up to any number of stereotypes of what  pocket war comic should be, without the drama or excitement that other  editions have created. I am not one who should question anybody else's artistic ability  - but the composition of Line of Fire is not the best. Having said that this cover is 10 million times better (and then some more) than I could ever create. 
The long grass is good. The dead officer is good. The abandoned mortar is good. The fingers into the heading are good. The perfect bullet stitching,  not so much. The Sten gun smoke under the bullet stitching, not so good. The red sky, the purple tones... I really want to like it, but I just can't. 7/10

Cover of the Week Air Ace Picture Library 240 Havoc Over Russia

Struggle. Life is bad enough without having some creep shoot at you while you're trying to save your own life. Also given that should you make it through the hail of bullets and avoid the rotating propeller blades realising that where you might land isn't exactly going to be all that fun either. Good old number 57 hey? Well Air Ace 240 Havoc Over Russia could have very well been called Havoc Into Russia is besides the point. There's a lot to like in this cover. This is one of these covers where everything is so simple but it all comes together. Even the heading has a delightful if not sinister and tragic double meaning. For me this is an easy 10/10. The eastern front is pretty obscure in most people's minds let alone pocket war comics. 

Moustache Monday!

A moustache is one thing. Looking good is another. Bringing the two together well...Here we see Squadron Leader Ken Wilson bringing both together and making it look good. Others, like Taggart, can only sit in awe and try and bring together coherent sentences in recognition of his boss's presence.
Yet there is more to learn here than meets the eye. Men understand where to sit and where to stand. When to fold arms and when to not. If you look closely you will see what I mean.

Cover of the Week. Air Ace Picture Library 411 The Wolf's Head.

Nazis are a funny lot you know. They say they want all the attention and then when they get it they can't help but look the other way. I've been trying to interpret Air Ace Picture Library 411 The Wolf's Head for some time. The more I look the more I get confused. Yes I agree there's a moral let loose somewhere in here yet it doesn't reach out and grab me. Good beats evil. Yes I get that one. After that I don't know where to go. Is it not wearing seat belts is a bad thing? I'm still tying to figure out how "He tried to settle a personal score - but the price was sky high". If it's about killing Nazis the ledger appears by all accounts to be running in the black on this one.

The drama is all there of course. With cars at obscure angles and strafing aircraft at even obscurer altitudes. I even think there's an intentional link to party logos and busted hazard signs. As dramatic comic book art it makes a lot of sense - however the tag line doesn't seem to match every thing else that's going on. Argue with me if you dare but 8/10 (just) for this one.

Moustache Monday!

The The The that's all we seem to hear these days. However if we take the time to listen and look we will see a whole lot more.
It may not be enough to own the smallest filing cabinets in the world - perhaps that's where Wilson stores all his notes of warning. Yet when the moustache points you need to understand that you are being spoken too. If you're going to put up then you better have the legs of anything a fast unarmed  version operating with a specialty. The rules are so simple if only you discuss them first.

Moustache Monday!

Do you know where this finger has been? Sometimes simple questions need to be given to simple people. Simple people lack sophistication. They lack intelligence. They lack flare. They lack style. Most of all they lack grooming. A simple person cannot grow a moustache let alone care for one. True some people may be able to grow facial hair but no doubt it will prove to be an abomination. It takes a proper man to grow, groom and maintain a moustache.  So when the finger is being pointed and the files are on the cabinet there is only one way to show respect- even though you may not have the intelligence to understand the meaning of your own words. How the irony is lost on those standing in the shadows.

Moustache Monday!

Some moustaches have their own gravity. Here is one that has more than the potential to attract small astronomic bodies over an unyielding event horizon. Yet despite its inherent majesty and associated gravity there are those, hairless lipped as they are, who are dismissive.

Consider this. A man takes the time to grow and groom. To crop and cultivate. Yet some hairless lipped wonder wearing ice cream cups on his ears believes he can call the shots. You know...be number one, numero uno, the big cheese, the bees knees, the duck's guts...Well Mr Not Man Enough. Get your act together. Stop questioning and get with it.   

Did Battler Britton Shoot this Dornier Down?

Last surviving Second World War Dornier bomber is to be raised from its watery grave after 70 years in biggest recovery of its kind

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2318808/Last-surviving-Second-World-War-Dornier-bomber-raised-watery-grave-70-years-biggest-recovery-kind.html#ixzz2SPOHZLIy


Comic Book Collecting

The ducks of war - well actually the duck of war meets the enemy head on in a confrontation so terrible that not even Battler Britton will be able to walk away grinning.

Whoever Bob is he's left his mark on this Air Ace Picture Library.

The idle doodle in the only white area on the cover is now locked into my collection. It's inevitable that free art and typographical interpretation of this calibre is going to turn up from time to time.

I'm happy to see it.

Bob if you're out there some where I have your comic now. And your duck.

Moustache Monday!

These are complicated times. When a man with a moustache has to spell out to young fools why they are foolish. Some would say that it should be self evident. Clearly it is not. The RAF never was nor never will be the domain for chinless wonders to play as they please with valuable equipment - irregardless of its age or usefulness.

One can only hope that a man with more chin than is fair can make this point. If the ballet of chin, eyebrow, and moustache cannot help them, nothing else will.

Being young is never an excuse.



War at Sea Picture Library 1 Devil's Cargo

It's what doesn't happen in Devil's Cargo that makes this a terrific story. The SS Westland is a creaking old tanker worthy for the scrap heap - however the urgencies of war means she is needed. The same can be said for her crew.

Once the characters are established the action follows very closely. It is in the action sequences where Devil's Cargo excels and it's what doesn't happen that makes this pocket war comic shine.

On the way to joining a convoy the Westland gets attacked by a seaplane that strafes and bombs the ship. The seaplane is shot at but it gets away! Once in convoy surface raider cruiser appears and attacks. The convoy's sole escort, an aged destroyer, sacrifices itself allowing the convoy to save itself by dispersing. The destroyer pays the ultimate price and the other ships and the Westland escape albeit a bit worse for wear. Oh by the way the surface raider isn't sunk! As the damaged Westland limps its way towards its destination it is attacked by a surfaced U-Boat. To the credit of the Westland's crew they manage to land a hit on the submarine disabling its deck gun - but not before they take a beating. What? The U-Boat isn't sunk? That plane should have been shot down! That cruiser should have been sunk! The surfaced U-Boat is not rammed? I don't understand!

This is quite a tight little story.

Even though the guy with the floppy fringe does a bang up job of showing leadership he doesn't turn out to be the hero. In a nice twist that honour goes to the shifty looking down and out spiv. This is another one of those interesting stories where you really don't get to see the bad guys. This is one of those stories that has it all - great story, great action and great pictures.

There's a lot of ink in Devil's Cargo. It is an absolute pleasure.

Looks like a great place to have holiday. Why would you want to go somewhere where people are shooting at you?

Quite a contemporary look you've got going there Bert.

Love all that shading in this story.














He don't look half shifty don't he?

This is a great panel!!

The sea is a dark and mysterious place.

Ah! That's why he voluntered!! Who would have known?











A well placed AAAGH! from the Hun in the barge as well as an almost unheard of "look out!" from one of his comrades.

It should have been the guy with the floppy fringe up there. 

Moustache Monday!

Some things are best left  unsaid...however! When the man wearing the dark suit and  wearing the dark moustache places his hand on the small of your back and opens the door and says "we have no time to waste" there is only one thing that can be said. Our dapper friend with his floppy fringe only has one way to go. He knows who is the boss, he knows who is the better dressed man, he knows who is in command. So should this ever happen to you dear reader remember the right words, "Okay you're the boss..."



Moustache Monday!

Understanding the "other tribe" as the man of moustache calls women on occasion is another trait that a real man must develop. Women understand little the ways of men and as such require a different approach. Even though their ways may appear trivial or unimportant; a real man, a man with a tash understands that though their ways are foreign and strange that they cannot be simply ignored. The ability to resolve feminine disputes is only one talent, among many, that a man needs master in order to journey through life. Even though the addition of the fairer sex does tend to complicate matters, a man with a moustache is wise enough to see them as part of the team - even to the distress of his fellow chums. Women who recognise this are forever grateful.

Meanwhile over at the Airfix Museum...

...Airfix needs you!  Museum curators have made an appeal for members of the public to contribute their old Airfix models and kits after an exhibition due to open at the Royal Air Force museum has been left with gaps.

 
The exhibition, which is due to open in June, will document the history of Airfix dating back to its advent in 1939.

This is all very good but where's the FROG Museum?

Meanwhile over at ebay...

...there's original cover artwork up for auction.

The listing reads...FULL COLOUR PAINTS ON ORIGINAL ART PAGE THAT WAS FIRST ISSUED ON AIR ACE PICTURE LIBRARY NUMBER 272.
WARTIME ACTION BY ARTIST ALAN WILLOW

There are also covers by Oliver Frey and Pino Dell'Orco.

Oh how I wish I had the cash to splash on these!

Best of luck if you're putting in a bid.

Moustache Monday!

Dealing with idiots is an occupational hazard of the moustache. Putting up with beefy English bully boys and politically incorrect smug buffoons with polished desks are part of the job. Put yourself in desert head's situation. It would have been easy to give them what they wanted - to add more polish to the desk as it were... However he chose the more rigid path of being questioned by Mike. Mike put it to him for a whole hour and gave it his all. Yet all he received was a bit of chat. Tired of talking the stuffed shirt moustacheless wonder asks for all the men to be put on the foredeck. Now that's the time to leave.

Stuka Sunday!

Oh you dream the dream of dreams. You find your tormentor vulnerable. Is this the moment you've been waiting for? Or is it truly only a cruel dream on Stuka Sunday!?

Meanwhile over at Boardgame Geek...

...Kyle has put together lyrics for a parody of the Thrift Shop song by Macklemore. Now that I've been inspired if I can turn my unique talents towards lyric writing I could have a hit on my hands...

I gotta pop some mags,
Only got 20 bucks in my pocket,
I’m on the sniff for pocket war comics,
Battler Britton? Awesome!

Moustache Monday!

Where would we be without moustaches? We can lift our eyes towards the heavens as much as we like but the answer is not there. We can ask Sally several times but she will not be able to tell us. We can wear obscure collar types in effort to belong to a secret sailing society but the answer is not there. We can try and deviate from the one true path but will only find ourselves taking longer to get there. We can hide but the answer is not hidden in shadows. We can trust in luck only to find that we were lucky all the time. We can ask questions but we will find no answers. A life without a dash of tash, without grooming and care is no life to be considered. The upper lip hairless is akin to a life not lived.

Comic Book Collecting

As my collection slowly makes it way past 600 (too many for some not enough for others) time for some reflection. Where do these things comes from? There was a time, not too long ago, when I was able to build the bulk of my collection from second hand book stores and book exchanges. Sadly these are getting harder to find. I always had an overwhelming urge to rearrange the caches I would find in the semblance of some order. As these haunts have closed down they have been replaced by the Internet which is not a bad thing at all. However I often think that somewhere out there is a rambling second hand bookstore with a good number of the missing issues I've been looking for. I can't but help think that somewhere in England, probably, such a place exists. However as I am on the other side of the planet the chances of stumbling past this fine imagined and yearned for establishment isn't going too happen to soon.

After experimenting with different forms of storage, all of them inadequate, I realised that pocket war comics are about the size of a DVD case. This epiphany has saved me a lot of angst. My collection resides in a number of long DVD plastic storage tubs. The tubs have lids, handles and are stackable. Which makes sorting, resorting, finding and replacing so much easier.

As I was saying my collection is tipping the 600 point I must settle down to read my new prize.

Moustache Monday!

Ease the throttle man! When the moustache says ease; you ease! Banish panic and all thoughts of failure. Seizing the throttle too hard may lead to disaster. But notice the calm hand of the man of tash. However given the situation even the man in control is allowed to feel a little aprehensive. So when the sweat starts pouring and the eyes become glazed and the grip tightens listen to the voice of calm. Otherwise you will have no where to turn but down. So get a grip and loosen that grip!

Celebrating 300+ Posts!

Hooray! Pockets War Comics reaches 300 posts.  So far so good...
In writing this blog I've discovered more things about pocket war comics than I thought were possible. I've also made a few friends for which I am grateful. I've also found a number of other blogs and websites that I would not have found otherwise. Thank you to everybody for your support - you know who you are.
Here's to the next 300!